Penhill Preceptory

Penhill Preceptory was a priory on the northern flanks of Penhill in Wensleydale, North Yorkshire, England, which functioned from about 1142 to 1308–12.

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Swinithwaite

Swinithwaite is a hamlet in the Yorkshire Dales, North Yorkshire, England. It lies on the A684 road, 2 miles (3.2 km) miles east of Aysgarth. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district of Richmondshire, it is now administered by the unitary North Yorkshire Council. The hamlet originally belonged to the Knights Templar but was later absorbed into the manor of West Witton which lies to the east. The hamlet includes Swinithwaite Hall, a grade II* listed building which has extensive grounds covering over 1,600 acres (650 ha). There is a belvedere in the grounds and a folly (known as Temple Folly after a nearby Knights Templar chapel). Both the belvedere and the folly were designed by John Foss of Richmond and have been converted into holiday accommodation. The hamlet does not have any amenities other than a farm shop. The cellar in the farmhouse on the estate was once used for a scene in All Creatures Great and Small. In one of Bernard Cornwell's Saxon stories, The Last Kingdom, the village Synningthwait is referenced. In that book, it claims the name means "place cleared by fire," after parts of it were torched to make room for more homes for the Danes.

Historic Site Landmark

Bishopdale Beck

Bishopdale Beck is a major tributary of the River Ure in North Yorkshire, England. The beck flows down Bishopdale, a side valley of Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales. It starts life at Causeway Moss, a flat pass that leads over to Wharfedale from Bishopdale. Small streams join the beck from the flanks of the surrounding hills; such as Buckden Pike, Naughtberry, Wasset Fell, Stake Moss, Thoralby Common & Stake Fell. The only large tributary that joins Bishopdale Beck is the River Walden (or Walden Beck). Bishopdale Beck joins the River Ure at Froddle Dub, a mile east of Aysgarth Falls. It is approximately 9.3 miles (15 km) long from source to its confluence with the River Ure. The Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust YDRT has a remit to conserve the ecological condition of Bishopdale Beck from its headwaters to the Humber Estuary. The Ure Salmon Trust have undertaken remedial and fencing works alongside Bishopdale Beck to prevent cattle trespass. This is maintain the hatchling areas for spawning Salmon and so the trust have installed solar powered water troughs in the fields adjacent to the beck.

Fishing Hiking

Sorrelsykes House

Sorrelsykes House is a historic building in West Burton, North Yorkshire, a village in England. It is noted for the follies in its park. A manor house, named Sorysikes Meadow, was constructed on the site in the early 17th century. It was demolished in the early 19th century, and a new country house was built. It was altered in 1921, with the addition of a block at the rear, giving it a rectangular plan. The building was later divided into four houses, and it was Grade II listed in 1988. The house is built of stuccoed brick, with quoins, modillion gutter brackets, and a stone slate roof, hipped on the left. There are two storeys, a partial basement and attics, and an east front of nine bays. The middle three bays project under a pediment, and contain a doorway with an architrave and a cornice on consoles. To the left is another doorway containing a fanlight with a chamfered quoined surround and a round-arched architrave. The left bay contains a two-storey canted bay window, and most of the windows are sashes, with a variety of surrounds. In the left return is a semicircular bay window. In the parkland around the house are four follies. Their date of construction is uncertain, but they may have been built by four sisters of the Tennant family in the 1870s. At the top of a scree slope is a sham ruin, originally resembling a castle, though it was damaged in a storm in 1992 and little survives. It is said to have been constructed to hide earlier lead mine workings. The other three follies are better preserved, and two are Grade II listed. The Pepper Pot is in stone and has a circular plan. There are two stages, the lower stage slightly tapering, the upper stage concave, each with a projecting top course of stones, surmounted by a conical cap. On the west side is a very small doorway. The Rocket Ship is also built of stone, and has a base in the form of a cube with tapering diagonal buttresses. On the west side is a narrow doorway with a blind oculus above, and at the top is flagged coping. The base is surmounted by a tapering circular obelisk containing two blind round-headed vents and with flagged capping. The unlisted folly is a stone arch, sometimes described as a gateway, but too low to walk through. The follies were restored in 1993.

Historic Site Landmark

2.2 km

Penhill

Penhill (526 metres (1,726 ft) high at the trig point, 553 metres (1,814 ft) at Height of Hazely) is a prominent hill, 5.5 miles (9 km) south west of Leyburn, in the Pennines, North Yorkshire, England. It forms a ridge that commands the southern side of Wensleydale and the northern side of Coverdale. Its concave shape was formed during the last ice age, when glaciers carved Wensleydale into a U-shape. The summit plateau has a trig point, small tarns on the peat moor, and, visible from the valley floor, a beacon at its eastern end, part of the large network built to warn of a Spanish invasion. Penhill is accessed by public footpaths from the village of West Witton, by a bridleway from a minor road between West Witton and Melmerby, or over open access land from the south. Although Penhill is not a very high hill, its position near the mouth of Wensleydale makes it visible from a considerable distance – from the North York Moors across the Vale of York, as well as from many points in the dale. Like Pendle Hill, Penhill is a pleonastic name consisting of Brittonic (penn) and Old English (hyll) words for 'hill'. One local legend is that the hill was the home of the Penhill Giant, who would steal sheep from the local flocks.

Hiking Landmark